PIC Podcast

I've been lucky enough to participate in implementing a podcast for my department at the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA). If you're a pilot, or you're curious about being a pilot, check out our Pilot Information Center Podcast page at http://aopa-pic.podomatic.com/ , or click this link on your mobile device to add the podcast feed to your podcast app: http://aopa-pic.podomatic.com/rss2.xml

Why Drones Aren’t Drones- and the Negative Perception that the Word "Drones" Might Cause

The recent uptick in so-called drone videos shared online has resulted in a spike in unmanned aircraft awareness as far as their capabilities. Spectacular face-to-face July 4th fireworks footage is doubtlessly appealing, and while it is hard to argue as to the merits of the video, I would like to address the text that surrounds those videos routinely embedded in news articles or social media posts. 

The word drone likely triggers a different impression upon each person that reads the word in this context, and some readers likely dismiss their lack of understanding of the word and replace it with an assumption of approval of such activities. In contrast, many readers who are involved in the aviation arena take umbrage to the notion of a drone, since the word may imply some degree of autonomy. Autonomy brings visions of Skynet where computers are commanding aircraft to perform any manner of civilian or military activities, either benign or purposefully dangerous.

So "drones" = Skynet. Well! No wonder there is fear, uncertainty, and doubt going on here.

Unmanned aircraft sharing the air with other manned aircraft causes many pilots or non-flying individuals involved in aviation to suffer a transient bout of hypertension. In isolation, the idea that an unmanned aircraft may contribute to a mid-air collision is not an unreasonable fear at first, until considering that all pilots operating an aircraft are required to “see and avoid” others in order to prevent a collision (except in cases where vision is impaired, in which case air traffic control uses radar to perform the task for them).

The knowledge gap occurs when the idea of drones projects a lack of see-and-avoid capabilities as a result of human intervention being difficult or impossible without a human present to perform the task, either onboard or guiding the aircraft remotely from the ground. This is why the “drones” moniker may not be appropriate; in fact, the FAA refers to unmanned aircraft as part of UAS, or Unmanned Aircraft Systems. See for yourself at http://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/uas/ , where such guidance includes “Historically, unmanned aircraft have been known by many names including: “drones,” “remotely piloted vehicles (RPV),” “unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV),” “models,” and “radio control (R/C) aircraft.” (from http://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/uas/media/uas_roadmap_2013.pdf). The upshot is thus: regardless of what you call it- drone, R/C aircraft, etc., these aircraft are being piloted by a person from a location which is not on board the aircraft, and they are still bound by Federal regulation to colliding with other persons or aircraft. Nothing has changed in that regard.

The plain and unfortunate truth is that we are forging ahead into new territory with the rapid advent of small remote-controlled aircraft systems overtaking the slow-moving regulatory process which is trying to catch up with the new mix of aircraft utilizing the national airspace system. I would submit that when articles on the topic are shared, a bit of consideration should be used as far as what the word drone might drum up in the imagination of the reader, and what better choices might be available. As individuals involved in the aviation industry, we have a responsibility to get it right. Readers may harbor unknown perceptions that a writer or reposter might not consider. 

PS: as for those true "drones" controlled by computer in order to deliver your Amazon goodies- those aren't going to happen anytime soon, as they currently have no way to fit into our regulatory framework.

Disclaimer: the views expressed herein are solely my own, and are not necessarily a reflection of my employer or their position.

Further references for your consideration:

Integration of Civil Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in the National Airspace System  (NAS) Roadmap

http://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/uas/media/uas_roadmap_2013.pdf

Busting Myths about the FAA and Unmanned Aircraft–Update

http://www.faa.gov/news/updates/?newsid=76381

14 CFR PART 91—GENERAL OPERATING AND FLIGHT RULES

http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?rgn=div5&node=14:2.0.1.3.10#14:2.0.1.3.10.2.4.7

In particular, “(b) General. When weather conditions permit, regardless of whether an operation is conducted under instrument flight rules or visual flight rules, vigilance shall be maintained by each person operating an aircraft so as to see and avoid other aircraft. When a rule of this section gives another aircraft the right-of-way, the pilot shall give way to that aircraft and may not pass over, under, or ahead of it unless well clear.”

Who moved my cheese?

... that title is a play on a 404 page that was displayed a lot last year when the FAA (I think) moved some stuff around on their website, breaking links that previously worked. Anyway- the same thing has happened again:

In the past, you could access the FAA's free online digital charts via this link:

http://naco.faa.gov/

Unfortunately, this link no longer works. You can now get there via this link, which is a lot harder to remember or give out over the phone:

http://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/flight_info/aeronav/

In order to make it easier to give out this link, I've created a shortened version that you can use instead (which sends you to the same place):

http://tinyurl.com/aeronav

Washington DC SFRA Instructional Videos

Check these out:

http://aviationsafetyvideos.com/dcsfravideos.html

Air France 447 Crash Update

Now that the black boxes have finally been recovered and analyzed, we're getting a picture of what happened before Air France 447 disappeared:

Crash Report Shows Confused Cockpit

Stall recovery technique seems to be a problem. It doesn't sound that different from the Buffalo crash, aside from the icing :(

Primary students know that the reason an airplane stalls is that the critical angle of attack has been exceeded, and that the first step in stall recovery, therefore, is to simply reduce the angle of attack! I can certainly understand how airspeed indicator malfunctions can make it difficult for the pilot to recognize what condition the airplane is in- but stall recognition is taught so that pilots can recognize stalls using a variety of cues, of which airspeed is only one...

Storms hit Lakeland, FL

Many friends and coworkers have been affected by some nasty weather across central Florida today, just in time for a big airshow called Sun 'n Fun:

http://www.aopa.org/sunnfun/2011/110331sun-n-fun_closed_violent_storm_destroys_many_aircraft.html

http://www.avweb.com/news/snf/SunNFun2011_SunnFunHitByViciousWindsRainExtensiveDamage_204378-1.html

http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?ContentBlockID=523260b7-5ff3-43ca-b09e-7741674f202f&

New Job

I have a new job, and the image below speaks for itself I think....

If you are an AOPA member, you can see what we're all about here:

http://www.aopa.org/members/pic/index.html

Kodak digital camera, circa 1975

Pretty cool design- it recorded on analog tape:

http://nerdology.tumblr.com/post/998388796

... which really isn't that different, or much faster, than how my first digital camera stored photos. It was a Sony Mavica FD-7. With a max res of 640x480, the results were mediocre at best- but by God, I was finally untethered from 35mm film. It had a 10x optical zoom lens, which was a big deal since its little brother, the FD-5, had no zoom but cost a good bit less:

http://www.rfwilmut.clara.net/about/mavica.html

Google TV

Mashups. They are all the rage lately. I don't mean audio mashups (although DC101's Flounder's Mashups is a favorite of mine) or social networking mashups (every site seems to have 20 cross-post buttons now). Here's what I'm talking about: DVD players have network connections now, to stream Netflix for example, and hopefully firmware updates too. Laptops have bluetooth now (I still haven't come up with a use for it on my Macbook Pro- isn't a bluetooth mouse overkill?).

Here's my question though- they are starting to put intelligence into TV sets- does anyone own a TV that's more than just a TV? You know, it has a brain that can do more than take in HDMI and display 1080p? For example, the TVs that will play Google TV? If so- I want to hear all about it. Educate me- and feel free to review your setup with pro-your-model and anti-everyone-else's-model zeal as you explain it to me.

And yes, I know that when the day of reckoning comes, I will be punished for my overuse of parentheses. I just like micro-digression, I suppose. At least it will be offset by my desire to always spell correctly and use the apostrophe properly.

The State of the Web, Winter 2010

Read all about it at The Oatmeal (= funny stuff) :

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/state_web_winter

1981 Quasar Color TV

A blast from the past... click on the pic for more detail:

Check out the video explaining how we had to change the channel back in the dark ages....

New blog spin-off, also Douglas Adams and HGTTG

I've decided to split my brain into two pieces. Not quite like Zaphod Beeblebrox, who decided to have two brains and then cauterize a section of one so that it wasn't accessible for a particular reason (no spoilers here). But I digress. Ok, here's the point. I want to make a clear delineation between my work related to flying and flight instruction, and the "rest of the story" (homage to Paul Harvey), which is what this blog is. Mostly Useless Information will remain a place where I post anything that I come across that I don't think is worthy of jamming into the news feed of my Facebook friends. My new blog, Flight Instruction Secrets, is where I'm going to make an honest effort to try to give back some of the great tips, tricks, and insights that have been handed down to me by MY flight instructors, in an effort to pay it forward. So, if you missed it the first time- for those of you that are interested in flying, check out my new flying related blog at:

http://flightsecrets.blogspot.com/

Mahalo. 

Oh, one more thing. If you like humorous sci-fi, you must read this book. If you've ever been puzzled by someone answering a question that you've asked with the answer "forty-two, of course", well, this is the origin of that particular meme.

The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Please take note that, in this series, Douglas Adams (RIP) wrote five books:

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Live, The Universe, and Everything

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

Mostly Harmless

All of these books (part of a tongue-in-cheek "five part trilogy") are contained in the amazon link above.

Happy Thanksgiving

I wish nothing but the best for you and yours, friends and family. Spend some time together and forget your troubles for a while.

If you are bored enough to come here to the blog today, I can offer you some fun videos to waste a tiny part of your day laughing:

51 Jokes (in Four Minutes)

50 Jokes (Yes...actually 50 jokes)

50 MORE JOKES in FOUR MINUTES

videos courtesy of the Vlogbrothers on Youtube. Funny guys.

Vectrex

Ok. What the hell is a Vectrex?

When I was seven or so years old, this now-primitive (but at the time, quite amazing) self-contained video game system always drew me in, like Odysseus to the sirens. They had one set up at the toy store at Frederick Town(e?) Mall, whose original name I can no longer remember- and I doubt it's even there anymore. This simple little machine was a vector graphics system, only drawing lines instead of colors or full sprites- think back to the original Asteroids or Battlezone games from Atari- they too were vector gfx machines. Anyway- just for fun, I thought I'd poke eBay to see what was out there. The prices for working units with controllers, game cartridges, and screen overlays (if you click the link, you will see what I mean) are relatively astronomical- although I'm pretty sure the sticker price on these units was $200 when they came out, so for the early 80s they were super pricey then too.

If you're actually interested in seeing what I'm talking about, here are two links:

Vectrex available on eBay

Wikipedia entry on Vectrex

By today's standards however, these game machines are probably as exciting as playing with a cribbage board, while not knowing how to play cribbage. 

One more thing. While I was window shopping, I found this- a damn good looking Zaxxon stand-up coin-op machine. Zaxxon was an infuriatingly tough game but the graphics were good for the time, and you really felt like you were in the little spaceship, down in the trenches, shooting fuel tanks and incoming missiles with your single diminutive little laser.

Zaxxon on eBay
(I always thought that Zaxxon and Donkey Kong Jr. were the two main, and perhaps the only two good, reasons that anyone should buy a Coleco Vision. Popeye was just plain dumb.)

How does a bowling alley work?

The title of this post must sound exceedingly strange, mundane, or outright stupid. I mean, really- how does a bowling alley work? That's easy! You roll a ball, knock some pins down, write down a number (or these days, let the computer do it for you), and then take a sip of beer and wait 10 minutes for your next turn. Fair enough. However- ever since I can remember rolling duckpin balls at Village Lanes and Arcade Lanes here in Frederick, MD (both now since have closed), I was always EXTREMELY curious as to what was happening behind that cosmetic facade just above the pin area, to know what was going on behind the scenes to keep the game going. Namely:

1. sweeping away "deadwood" (knocked-over pins which must be removed before subsequent rolls), while keeping the remaining pins in place;
2. sweeping away ALL of the remaining pins at the end of the frame, once your alloted amount of ball rolls (which for duckpin bowling, by the way, is three- not two- like ten-pin bowling) and resetting a new "rack" of pins in place;
3. collecting the knocked down pins to be used for the next "rack";
4. returning the balls that I have rolled back to me for reuse.

Frankly, there's a lot of precise action going on in the "back of house" in order to keep the game going. Keep in mind that if someone rolls a strike, it might only be 15 seconds or so between the end of the prior frame, and the time that the person that rolled a strike hits the reset button to request another full rack of pins to be reset in place. So, the machinery in the back of house must not only be fast, but it also has to be precise (not putting pins in the wrong spots, or making sure not to omit pins in the 10-pin layout), accurate (not putting pins in wrong places that would make a frame easier or more difficult for a bowler to score with, since league play is highly competitive), as well as safely and reliably putting pins- intact- in place, and not damaging the bowler's bowling balls in the process of gently returning them to the bowler, at the "front of house".

That being said- if you have a curious mind like I do, seeing how all this happens might be interesting to you. The first time my friends at Walkersville Lanes took me to the back of house to see how things work was really quite a thrill for me. A few days ago they let me hang out and shoot some video of how the 50+ (60+?) year old machinery works that clears pins, sets pins, and sends bowling balls back to the bowlers works. I hope you find this stuff interesting- please note that I tried to get in as close as I could to shoot these videos without losing any fingers- this machinery is VERY dangerous with all of the motors, chains, and gears involved....

Thanks to Reds and Leroy (in no particular order- you guys are both great teachers and have infinite patience with me) for your help with this.

Check out the six videos on the right:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ferdmack?feature=mhum#p/u/1/2pzRGbKpjBg

Bill Hammack - The Engineer Guy

Dr. Hammack is a friend that I met during my 2nd year of undergrad at Carnegie Mellon. Although I was never lucky enough to take one of his chemistry classes (my chemistry career in college consisted of only two courses, I believe), Bill and I met while taking a scuba class on campus, and shortly thereafter we went on a brief trip to florida with the scuba class to do some fresh water diving. I recently came across a treasure trove of articles, interviews, and videos that he has put together online, and it's filled with stuff that's impressive, funny, and educational.

So, here ya go:

www.engineerguy.com

some of his videos

Info about Dr. Hammack

Inception - Redux

Ok. I watched Inception again, just to try to catch things that I missed the first time around, and to use the complete knowledge of the first full showing to help fill in the cracks the second time around.

All I can tell you is that 1. you need to see this movie, and 2. this mindbender of a movie may have a profound effect on you. Consider this simply a recommendation at least, and at most, a sincere urging to watch this movie...

If you want to laugh, the Ace-man is your ticket

I've been a big fan of Adam Carolla for at least 10 years. I used to record his two hour Loveline radio shows and either turn them into mp3s for my Ipod to listen to driving to work (actually back then it was a Creative brand dinky little 64MB player, pre-Ipod), or burn them to CDs to give to friends to listen to. These days, he has his own little broadcasting empire, but the point of all this is that you can get his daily show for FREE to listen to. Here's his main homepage:

The Adam Carolla Show

and here is the free new app called Stitcher, that lets you stream shows live to your smartphone- by far the easiest way to get the show without having to subscribe to the podcast and sync your phone:

Stitcher.com

finally- Adam also has a new book out, check it out on amazon:

In Fifty Years We'll All Be Chicks

Mahalo.

I'm looking for followers

Hi There!

If you're just randomly surfing by my blog, why not become a follower? I'd be glad to do the same for you. Let's build a little empire, shall we?

Inception

I was honestly surprised how thought provoking Inception was. Like Shutter Island, another of DiCaprio's big projects, this was another mental (literally) thriller- but this time the story was MUCH deeper (no pun intended, to those of you that have seen it) and really makes you consider your place in the world, as well as evoking real emotion in the viewer (at least in my case). I don't really want to say much more about it, for fear of giving away any of the important points (thanks Tom, for blowing the key piece of The Sixth Sense for me, back in the day), but suffice it to say that if you thought that Shutter Island was any good, this movie will probably seem like a substantially better flick. It's also visually impressive, they definitely pulled out the stops on not just CGI (which was definitely not overused) but also choices of locations. I give it an A-, mostly docked from a higher grade as a result of a few short but annoying (and preachy, between characters) script segments.